Graphics Card Problem

Alright, I got my new Radeon 9550, 256mb, and on the whole, I am loving it. I only have 256mb of ram, so I think that is holding me back, and I plan on getting another 256mb soon, as my computer will recognize a maximum of 512mb of ram. That is not the problem. The problem is that sometimes after closing stuff, and sometimes just randomly, the screen goes black, then a few seconds later, maybe 5, the screen appears again. Anyone experienced this before? or know what to do to fix it?

that happens to me alot, especially after i close out of guild wars.
i think it has to do with ram, and the fact that GW takes a huge chunk of my 512, that it takes awhile for it to be freed up.
has anyone ever accidently hit the "windows" key between ctrl and alt?
for me that means for at least 1 minute i have to wait for desktop to load before I can maximize GW again, died several times 'cas of this.

It sounds like your desktop resolution and GW resolution are different and it has to resize every time startup / exit.

If GW is set to 1024x768, check what your display is set to. Sounds like one is a 800x600 and other at 1924.768.

I agreaa about the resolutiuon part, I run my desktop at 1600x1200 and my game is 1200x100 i think because The game runs much faster on it...
u can change the resolution for guildwars in the options section

Might me a good idea to set your virtual memory 2.5 times your ram size. This could help free up some speed.

Im not so sure that increasing the pagefile (or the virtual memory as you say) would decrease the time for his computer to change resolutions as this is dependant solely on the video card's memory (or so i thought)

True...can't hurt to try though. He seriously needs at least 512Mb of ram though. Even 1Gb is a wonder drug for most computers. Depending on how many ram slots he has would be a deciding factor on what kind of ram to get. If he has 4 slots then he could add another 256Mb. If he is with 2x128Mb chips...then he might want to dump those for larger chips.

ur right about the ram.. im asuming his ciomputer has 3 slots and he has 2 128 mb sticks in... he could get a nivce old 1 gb stick for it aor a 512...

I have 2 slots, on a Dell Dimension 4300. I run both my desktop and game at teh same res, so I don't think that is the problem. I am wondering though, what I need to do to free up virtual memory?

Hmm...XP wil suck up allot of that 256Mb of ram. Seriously....go to Crucial.com and use their system search of your Dell. It doesn't hurt to look. That is where I got my ram for all of my Dells. I think your is maxed at 1Gb...not sure though. My older Dim 4100 is maxed at 512Mb. When I added more ram to my older Dim 4100 I was amazed at the snap that was back in that system. Now my newest system has 4Gb...over kill I know...but what a way to die!

Same as the OP, but instead I got a new GEForce 6600/256mb graphics card and two new 512 sticks to replace my stock cards in my HP 735N. The card works great and I load super fast, but after one hour of play my pixels start breaking up, I get black screened and then freeze. At this point CTRL ALT DEL doesn't even respond, the only option is to power cycle the unit. Interestingly enough if I completely log out of GW before the 1 hour point then reload, I'll be fine for another hour. Which leaves me to believe my memory is at fault. I've set my virtual memory to automatic and I believe the settings are x2 (not for certain at work atm). Maybe my puter isn't reconizing the two new 512 sticks?
Anyone else have this problem and know of a way to fix this?

I have been having all sorts of problems like all the ones mentioned on this forum too. blank screen, black screen, game freezing, screen artifacts, lock ups, d/c's. I had been running my comp overclocked from 3.2ghz -3.78ghz and video card also OC'd. I have tried everything to remedy the problems to no avail, untill I resetted all of my comp setting in my comp bios to default including video card. Two days now no problems.

Funny thing is, I am able to run Windows, surf the web and play other games with no problem prior to the default settings. Could it be that GW is now over taxing our comps and video cards? And for a year now I was able to run GW with my overclocked settings, untill now?

I would suspect the 2 biggest problems in HP systems: poor power supply and heat.

HP systems are notious for having garbage poor-wattage power supplies. I have seen brand new HP Athlon 4200 Dual core systems with only 300 watt supplies. I would never build such a system unless it had at least a 450 watt supply.

And they have the same problem with cooling. A high-ended HP may have 2 cooling fans inside, 1 is the norm though for all of their systems. And basically the things just cook themselves to death.

Both excessive heat and dirty power can cause the problems you are describing. In addition they seriously shorten the lifespan of the computer. I would recommend simply gutting the parts and place them inside of a new case. You can normally pick up a decent case with a 420+ watt power supply for around $75. And swapping a case is really not hard, I can do it in about 15-30 minutes.